


heaven helps a fool who falls in love

by brighterthanstars



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Rule 63, i guess, random leafy boys may show up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 17:16:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10768821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brighterthanstars/pseuds/brighterthanstars
Summary: Mitch talks with her hands a lot, laughs and giggles a lot too, she’s.. a lot. She’s also the prettiest girl Auston has ever seen.Maybe Chucky was right after all, and his thing for Mitch was never just about her hockey.Or, Mitch is the prettiest girl Auston has ever seen, and he's really bad at dealing with it.





	heaven helps a fool who falls in love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dannybsdadbod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannybsdadbod/gifts).



> After many _many_ months whining about it, it's done.
> 
> Nobody asked for always-a-girl!Mitch, but honestly, she'd be a cute girl. Big, biiiig thanks to [Julia](mattmartln.tumblr.com) for putting up with me. You're the greatest.
> 
> Not even proofread, because I don't believe in that stuff.

Auston watches the draft out of spite. Because fuck those two days, he _felt_ ready.

 

His mother doesn’t say anything when he sits in front of the TV with way too much junk food, just sits next to him on the couch and to steal his chips.

 

The pre-draft stuff is boring and repetitive, he knows Eichs is good but he honestly doubts the Oilers are going to pass up the opportunity to draft yet another good Canadian boy. McDavid _is_ good.

 

The camera goes around the stands to show all the top prospects in slow motion; Jack’s laughing at Hanny’s face, probably because he looks a little green while Zach and Kyle roll their eyes at them. Crouse’s leg seems like it can’t stop moving and Travis looks ready to murder.

 

McDavid looks a little sweaty when the camera gets to him, he’s just standing there talking to an equally sweaty Dylan Strome and Mitch Marner.

 

The fact that he’d recognize her pretty much anywhere, even when she’s not wearing her knights’ greens, says a lot about him. He doesn’t mean to be a cliché but It’s not a secret that he has a type, _a thing_ , for girl hockey players.

 

His mother’s breath catches a little, “Oh, she looks so beautiful.”

 

Mitch’s leaning against the railing in front of her friends, she’s wearing a navy blue lacey dress and she’s done… something to her hair that looks really good, so yeah, “Yeah, she does.”

 

-

 

The thing with Mitch is that she’s tiny and adorable but she’s also hella fast and skilled. She’s probably better than half of the other draftees. Still, the commentators keep insisting the Leafs are going to waste their first pick – if they do use it to draft her.

 

It’s all levels of insulting.

 

It’s great to see the stunned faces on half of the teams’ tables when Mark Hunter calls her up to the stage. The jersey looks huge on her and the cap looks kind of ridiculous, but she’s beaming. Mitch looks gorgeous in Toronto’s blue.

 

Serves them right.

 

-

 

The OHL wants him, but he knows he’s going to a canadian team. Whatever happens, he’s going to be spending the next who knows how many seasons there. Chucky tries to get him to join the Knights as if he’s chasing the puck in the dying seconds of the third period, his words not Auston’s, but he still doesn’t _want_ to go.

 

He signs with the ZSC Lions and he’s in Switzerland not even five months later.

 

Auston tries to catch as many game as he can, though the time difference makes it almost impossible. Arizona’s games are on the top of his list of games to watch, always but London’s games make their way up on it pretty easily, what with having his annoying friend and his future teammate tearing it up together.

 

His _future_ teammate. That still gets him sometimes, that if he’s actually drafted by Toronto, he’s gonna be playing on a team with the girl he’s been hockey crushing on for _months._

 

(There’s a voice on his head that sounds a lot like Chucky saying “it’s not a _just_ hockey crush, Auston” But that’s his own head, he can ignore himself all he wants.)

 

And honestly, even if he was looking at more than just her hockey, could someone blame him? She’s going out there to win everything. And that’s just… that’s just really hot.

 

-

 

Buffalo is An Experience.

 

It’s all levels of awkward and weird, but it’s also the kind of intense he thrives on. There’s a lot to do, lots of places to see and visit in almost no time before he’s suiting up to for _his_ draft.

  


After he gets drafted – first overall, fuck – he celebrates well into the night, or morning, whatever.

 

Auston doesn’t get to check his phone until he wakes up late at noon, hungry and cranky.

 

Buried all the way down on the box there’s a string of messages from an unknown number.

 

_[Sat 09:29am]_

_Hey! Welcome to Toronto!_

 

_[Sat 09:29am]_

_And Hi! This is Mitch Marner btw_

 

_[Sat 09:30am]_

_Can’t believe the leafs won smt!_

 

He thinks about sending back his generic “thanks, honored to get to play there” but he knows she’ll read right through his bullshit.

 

_[Sat 03:15 pm]_

**Thanks, gonna need your help getting around tbh**

 

_[Sat 04:01 pm]_

_Hell yeah! I’ll be your personal GTA tour guide!_

 

-

 

Objectively, Auston knows he’s a little awkward, usually coming off as moody or – as Chucky always describes him- Chill™. But, no, he’s just awkward, always having a hard time finding his place between new people.

 

He’s completely at ease in the middle of the Team North America’s locker room, though.

 

Granted, he already knew a bunch of them but still, he doesn’t even jump when Connor plops down next to him.

 

“Hey, I’m having lunch with Mitch, wanna come and like, meet her? Nate and Jo are coming to.”

 

Auston, of course, gets stuck halfway into his shirtr, “Uh, sure.”

 

“Great, I’ll let her know. Oh, just so you know, she’s a hardcore hugger and she’s excited to meet you.”

 

“… Me too.”

 

-

 

The first thing that crosses Auston’s mind when he sees Mitch enter the diner is that she’s tiny.

 

Which, not really, because nobody that plays hockey on a professional level is _tiny_ but she’s smaller than what he thought she’d be.

 

She also fits perfectly under his arms when she throws herself on him to hug him, so there’s that.

He must be making a face because Connor snorts and Nate smirks when he looks at him. It’s stupid and Auston wants to tell him to fuck off, it’s not like Nate can talk about looks and faces when he still looks at Jo like he can’t believe he gets to touch her. They’ve been together for _years_.

 

Mitch talks with her hands a lot, laughs and giggles a lot too, she’s.. a lot. She’s also the prettiest girl Auston has ever seen.

 

Maybe Chucky was right after all, and his thing for Mitch was never _just_ about her hockey.

 

-

 

His first game comes and goes, it’s the longest and the shortest game of his life. It’s… It’s different to everything he’s ever been a part of, it’s bigger, louder, _crazier_.

 

He scores four goals, rookie nerves getting out of him with each shot he takes and every overexcited hug he gets. He can’t even be mad about them going to waste, everyone’s excited about the new season, everything looks so bright in the locker room.

 

Mitch’s smile is probably the brightest thing in the room, not that he’s going to be saying that to anyone anytime soon.

 

-

 

Auston and Mitch aren’t road roomies – She doesn’t even have a roomate, what with being the only woman on the team, but he always ends up with a key to her room anyway.

 

A room that looks every bit like a war zone at the moment.

 

Every item of clothing Mitch had on her suitcase seemed to be on the bed. Or the chair. Or the bedside table, really?

 

“What the hell happened here?”

 

“Hi! Uh, I just got off an hour long call with Tyler Seguin, right?” Mitch says, she keeps moving one of her game day blouses from one outfit to the other, Auston hums softly for her to keep going, “And according to her, I’m ‘too cute’ to dress like this?”

 

Mitch is blushing softly, she really _is_ cute. He frowns a little anyway, “I like how you dress.”

 

“Thank you,” She smiles, blush darkening a little, “I like it too, I guess she’s just trying to help. You know she’s all… stylish.”

 

Auston takes that moment to grab and move a random shirt from the bed to sit. It ends, as most things do with Mitch, in giggles.

 

“I think I’m gonna hit the mall to try a few things?”

 

“Okay, yeah, I guess I could buy some more winter clothes.” Auston says. She grins back at him, “Oh buddy, you really should.”

 

-

 

Brownie burst out laughing as soon as he steps into their room. Naturally, Auston grabs the nearest thing and aims it at his head. Who knew stationary pens could hit bullseye, uh.

 

“I see you’ve been spending that contract money, eh.”

 

“Shut up, she wanted to go to the mall and she’s used to Toronto’s winter so she helped me too,” Auston drops his bags next to the bed and escapes to the bathroom so he doesn’t have to deal with Brownie’s face.

 

“Yeah, I saw, she snapped me from the fitting room,” Auston can hear the freaking smirk, “because _someone_ wasn’t being helpful.”

 

The face that greets him when he walks back into the room matches the smirk he thought he heard. He groans loudly before faceplanting onto his pillow.

 

“Your pining is disgusting.”

 

“Your face is disgusting.”

 

“You could just tell her, you know,” Connor’s voice is softer and not teasing at all, he’s known Mitch longer so maybe he knows more than Auston does, maybe… maybe he shouldn’t really go _there_.

 

“Go to sleep, Brownie.”

 

“Just think about it.”

 

(He thinks about it enough as to barely nap; He thinks about it some more before the game when Mitch comes down from her room with the blouse he liked so much.

 

He thinks about it when she bypasses rows of empty seats to sit next to him on their way to the game. He definitely thinks about it when he stares after her until Willy elbows him hard.

 

He is a mess.)

 

-

 

Sometimes Mitch goes out.

 

She’s a Toronto girl still living in Toronto, so going out with her friends is as easy as it’s always been.

 

At this point of the season, Auston’s pretty used to her off-days drunk snaps. He has to try really hard not to screenshot every single one of them.

 

They go out with the team too, after big wins or after stupid games that they lose because they still are the _leafs_ as Mitch usually reminds him when he gets frustrated. Auston’s never been a club guy, doesn’t really like crowds and even though he plays a full contact sport, doesn’t really like the whole bodies grinding down all night long thing.

 

But he likes going out with the team, he likes this stupid bunch of teammates he has now, likes them enough to let Mitch and Willy drag him to the dancefloor to dance with them.

 

-

 

It’s the last day of the year and all of Auston’s plans revolve around the US vs Canada game, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do for the actual new year’s eve night but he’s going to go to that game and he’s going to tease Mitch to no end when Canada ends up losing.

 

Mitch’s huffy when she climbs all the way up to where he’s sitting with Brownie, she plops down in front of him and crosses her arms. It’s… kind of adorable, really.

 

“I was going to wear Stromer’s Jersey,” She huffs, when Brownie asks her about the long face, “but then I remembered I can’t, because the last time I did everybody thought we were dating and didn’t drop it for _months_ , I don’t own a regular Canada jersey, and I’m _not dating Dylan Strome_!”

 

She curses up a storm but her mood doesn’t sullen even when Canada fails to even up to the score, it says a lot about her. They lose Matt when they go down to the locker rooms, because apparently they are allowed to, each of them going to see their countries’ teams.

 

Auston gets to them just in time to see Mitch being hug-tackled to the floor by one Dylan Strome, falling in a mess of gangly limbs and laughs.

 

Mitch’s not always sunny smiles and bright laughs these days, the pressure of the media and the expectations taking a toll on her but it’s obvious just how much happier she is around her friends. There’s something about her smile when she’s surrounded by people who she knows she doesn’t have to prove anything to, like she’s as relaxed as she can be.

 

It makes his heart hurt a little. He wants to make her feel like that too.

 

“Your feelings are showing” a voice says right into his ear, out of nowhere, no one can blame him for jumping. He turns around and comes face to face with a smirking McLeod, who just stares at him and tilts his head towards Mitch and Brownie. He must make a face back because Mikey laughs before clapping him on the back and leaving to join his retreating team.

 

-

 

Some of them are getting together to go the Leafs’ Centennial New Years’ Party because they have no life.

 

It’s supposed to be a pretty big affair, Auston’s not sure how many people will be there, but his parents have a reservation on a fancy restaurant downtown and he’s not going to crash their date night so, Leafs’ party it is for him.

 

He literally saw Mitch less than two hours ago, so how in less than that time, Mitch managed to make herself looks like she does, Auston has no idea. But, god, she looks good in her dark green dress. Really good.

 

He feels the real need to check how his jaw’s doing because, wow.

 

Besides him, Brownie, because he has no shame, whistles and laughs, “Dressed to impress someone, Mitchy?”

 

“Yeah, your instagrams,” She answers, she does blush a little, which, uh, “you’ll gonna get drunk and blow it up and I wanna look cute.”

 

Because apparently Auston has no chill and forgot his filter back in Arizona, he says, “You always look cute, though.”

 

Mitch’s eyes widen a little and her blush darkens, the boys snicker around him and shit fuck, he’s a mess part deux.

 

-

 

Dinner is a loud and fun affair, at some point he swears he sees a baked potato fly but he’s neither affirming nor denying.

 

Everybody gets sloppier and tipsier as the night progresses. Mitch starts leaning against him around eleven, no doubt thanks to alcohol and hockey. Auston’s not complaining, she’s warm and smells nice, and smiles at him like he’s the only one around.

 

She groans but still gets up when her phone rings a while later, she throws an apologetic smile their way before making her way out to the balcony.

 

Auston stares after her like he always does because he is completely fucked over her.

 

He manages to ignore the stares for a few minutes but there’s just so many kicks to his shin he can take before it actually _hurts_ him.

 

He jerks his legs away, “Jesus, dude, stop.”

 

Mo glares at him, “You stop.”

 

“I’m not doing anything!”

 

“Exactly…” Jake says. Having half of his team looking at him all disappointed it’s not a nice thing.

 

Brownie slaps the back of his head and gestures wildly to the door, “Go!”

Auston is feeling a little hysterical when he finally gets up.

 

-

 

It’s colder than he remembered it being, and he’s glad he had half a mind and snatched his coat before going outside, the smile Mitch gives him when she sees him warms him up though.

 

She holds up a finger while she says goodbye to her mom, wishing her a happy new year again, “Hey stranger.”

 

He leans against the balcony and looks her over, “Hey you,” he starts and, well, he doesn’t know what else to say, “Is Toronto always this cold?”

 

Mitch looks at him and snorts, “Really? It’s like a minute til the New Year and you’re small-talking me?”

 

“What else could I be doing?”

 

“Well,” she says as she smooths down the lapels of his jacket only to grab and pull at them, “you could kiss me… if you like, wanted to.”

 

Auston lingers for a second because, fuck, this is the woman he’s wanted to kiss since the first time he saw her back in September – hell, since the first time he saw one of her goals in an OHL highlights video.

 

The countdown chant starts and it’s easy to recognize the guys leading the whole party.

 

Mitch blinks at him, her hands still on him, looking up expectantly at him, a little unsure of herself now. This year is _not_ ending just staring. What the hell.

 

She makes an _umph_ noise when he finally snaps and grabs her by the waist, gets her flush against him, trapped between his body and the balcony, and finally, _finally_ gets his lips on hers.

It doesn’t go smoothly at first, as she’s too surprised, but they get it right just in time for the end of the countdown.

 

Mitch kisses like she talks, soft and fast, sure of what she’s doing. Auston can’t help but grip the fabric of her dress under her coat. She sighs into the kiss when he pulls her tighter against him, even more in, in, _in_.

 

There’s a sudden ruckus and a flash and the distinct voices of their team cheering like crazy.

Mitch smile gets too big to carry on with the kissing and she hides her face in his chest. She starts to laugh when Mo tries to get his arm around them but fails miserably, too tipsy to control his movements.

 

“Wait, this is important, I need to know if you kissed last year or this year,” Mo whines.

 

Mitch giggles again and shakes her head a little, “Last year. Jake won this one, big guy.”

 

Mo puts a hand over his heart, like he was wounded and betrayed. Jake can be heard loudly asking to be paid, and the rest of the guys groan. None of them are ever living this down.

 

He can’t be too offended about them betting on it when Mitch tugs him down to kiss him again.

 

Best New Year’s kiss ever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Again, yes, I know no one asked for this. yes, half of it doesn't even make sense.
> 
> Am I sorry? eh, not really.
> 
> All mistakes are mine and all that, english is not really my thing.
> 
> hope you like it anyway ❤


End file.
